Launch of the program of the Festival of Families

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin delivered this message on July 19 at Croke Park, Dublin, at the launch of the program for the Festival of Families. The Festival will take place during the World Meeting of Families, Aug. 21-26. The article was posted on the website of the Dublin archdiocese at www.dublindiocese.ie/launch-of-the-programme-of-the-festival-of-families/.

People pose July 19 during the launch of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin’s Croke Park. Pope Francis will travel to Ireland Aug. 25-26 for the end of the gathering. (CNS photo/Liam McArdle, courtesy WMOF)

There is great interest in the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families. The motives of that interest are varied but all of them are in some way linked with Pope Francis. Not just that Pope Francis is coming to Dublin, but perhaps much more about who is Pope Francis? What does he hope to attain through coming to Dublin?

At the end of September 1979, St. Pope John Paul II paid a historic visit to Ireland. By any standards, it merited the term “historic visit.” The “Papal Visit” was to become legendary in Ireland. It was the sort of event that grandparents speak about to their grandchildren still today.

The events around that papal visit constituted the largest ever gathering of people in the history of Ireland. Its impact was massive and enduring. Viewed with the eyes of the time it was not just a successful visit but also a real high point in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

How is that visit seen with the eyes of today? The enthusiasm and approval of the 1979 event has changed. From being seen just as a high point in the history of Irish Catholicism, it is looked on now as a turning point and the beginning in time of a gradual decline of a particular role of the Catholic Church Ireland.

What can Pope Francis do and what can he say to this changed modern Ireland? The expectations of Pope Francis’ visit vary. There is enthusiasm. Within days of opening registration, the bookings for all the major events of Pope Francis’ visit were sold out. Very large numbers will come from abroad and this event will be a way to highlight modern Ireland to the world. This is a great opportunity.

What do people expect from the visit? Many would come out to see any Pope who was coming to Ireland. For others Pope Francis has a special appeal. He is a sort of global religious star whose simple humanity and human warmth attracts. Pope Francis, who is over 80 years old, appears as a modern pope and people like that.

Pope Francis is for many hard to understand, especially in an Ireland where people have had a sort of black-and-white understanding of the realities of faith. Sins were sins and that was it. Many find it hard to understand a pope who can reaffirm doctrines and moral norms and yet admit that people live in gray areas and that that does not exclude them.

One of the great attractions of Pope Francis is how he shows us that he can live in a world where faith seems marginal and yet manage to touch hearts. He finds ways in which he can win hearts for what the teaching of Jesus involves, not through imposing and judging, but through winning and attracting. That is his real talent.

Pope Benedict had said that the challenge for the church in many western countries is: “to witness to God in a world that has problems finding him.” Pope Francis comes to Ireland as a man of God, one whose whole life is captivated with God of love as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Pope Francis recognizes change. He realizes that there many dimensions in the long tradition of Irish Catholicism and Irish missionary endeavor that have diminished. He recognizes that there is no way in which the realities of the past can be replicated today. The visit of Pope Francis will not be a re-hash of 1979. He also recognizes that something has been lost along the way and most of us can identify with that.

We all have an interest in working together to identify the values that will hold our Ireland together for the future, values around family, values around justice, values about economy, values around tolerance and values about caring. These are the questions that will be looked at the three-day event.

The Festival of Families aims at celebrating family life. Family is central to any society. Family is the backbone of intergenerational solidarity and of the passing on of values from one generation to the next. Families face challenges. Families face challenges and at times shame all of us who watch them face difficulties while society fails them. Pope Francis will go to the Capuchin Food Centre especially to be with families who are homeless or living in hotel rooms and who come to the center every day because they could never have a regular meal together otherwise.

Pope Francis will not work miracles. In a visit of little more than 36 hours, it will not be possible for him to design a new road map for the Irish church. At most he can offer the Irish church the instruments on which that new road map can be drawn. We all have to understand, however, that while you can still draw maps on paper, maps today are different. They are interactive and constantly being updated. Pope Francis will challenge the Irish church to be authentically the church in a changed culture.